听补苍诲听听补苍诲听, oh my. No matter the flavor of the winter weather, you can bet someone鈥檚 designed an app to predict a聽storm鈥檚 size, distance, and intensity. But how do you know which apps to trust? There are too many out there for me to unilaterally say which ones are good and which ones are bad鈥攜ou have to do that legwork on your own, downloading and then vetting the software that best syncs up with your lifestyle. Thankfully, that鈥檚 easy enough聽so long as you know what to look for. 聽聽
Make Sure the App Cites Its Sources
Very few apps actually create their own weather forecasts. They all get their information from somewhere else, and that somewhere else is important when you鈥檙e making potentially life-or-death decisions based on the forecast.
I rely on the National Weather Service (NWS)鈥攖he official weather-forecasting branch of the U.S. government鈥攁s well as private organizations like the Weather Company (the force behind the Weather Channel and Weather Underground)聽and the smart meteorologists at my local television news stations. These are all聽known entities, so look for apps powered by their data.
Don鈥檛 overlook the聽apps published by your local television news stations. The folks you see on the local news aren鈥檛 just weather presenters; these days, most of them are degreed meteorologists. They鈥檙e fairly accurate, and they often know local climate quirks better than the big聽companies.
Finally, it鈥檚 a good rule of thumb to avoid the unknown. If you鈥檝e never heard of an app鈥攁nd it聽doesn鈥檛 explicitly tell you where it聽gets its聽information鈥攊t鈥檚 best to avoid it altogether. If you still want to use a certain app but are聽unsure about it, ask a meteorologist or a weather buff.
Remember: The National Weather Service Doesn鈥檛 Have Its Own App
This is an important thing聽to remember when you鈥檙e looking for a good app. Any that uses NWS聽or NOAA聽in its name should be ignored. The National Weather Service doesn鈥檛 have an app, just the domain and聽links to聽the sites of associated agencies like the and the .
You can easily on your smartphone鈥檚 home screen, giving any web page the same ease-of-access as an聽app. Not only does that give you quick access to sites like the Storm Prediction Center, but it also allows you to add the NWS鈥檚 forecast for your town right to your home screen.聽
Avoid Apps with Too Much (or Too Little)聽Information
There is such a thing as information overload when it comes to weather forecasts. You have to find a source that strikes the right balance between providing enough information and enough good information.
A great example of too much information in a weather forecast is precise snowfall totals before a snowstorm. Some weather apps will provide you snowfall totals right down to the tenth of an inch. It鈥檚 scientifically unjustifiable to make such a precise forecast, even as the snow is falling. They鈥檙e usually just regurgitating what weather models are saying, but not only is that not a forecast, it鈥檚 also straight-up misinformation.
It鈥檚 also unsafe to rely on too little information. Some apps will only tell you that there鈥檚 a chance of isolated thunderstorms tomorrow. They strip away the important context, such as the chance that those thunderstorms could produce baseball-size hail or destructive tornadoes. You鈥檇 never know that little tidbit if you relied solely on an icon and a couple of numbers.
Pay Attention to Emergency Alerts
All modern smartphones are equipped with the capability to receive , a program rolled out this decade by the federal government in order to quickly alert people in the United States to dangerous weather in their area.
The National Weather Service has reported聽multiple instances of thanks to the arrival of one of these push notifications. Even though many apps have the ability to alert you when a watch or warning is in effect for your location, the default emergency alerts on your phone are a simple feature that could save your life one day.